Romans 7

1 Knowe yee not, brethren, (for I speake to them that knowe the Lawe) that the Lawe hath dominion ouer a man as long as he liueth?

Brethren, do you not know--for I am writing to people acquainted with the Law--that it is during our lifetime that we are subject to the Law?

2 For the woman which is in subiection to a man, is bound by the Lawe to the man, while he liueth: but if the man bee dead, shee is deliuered from the lawe of the man.

A wife, for instance, whose husband is living is bound to him by the Law; but if her husband dies the law that bound her to him has now no hold over her.

3 So then, if while the man liueth, she taketh another man, she shalbe called an adulteresse: but if the man be dead, she is free from the Law, so that shee is not an adulteresse, though shee take another man.

This accounts for the fact that if during her husband's life she lives with another man, she will be stigmatized as an adulteress; but that if her husband is dead she is no longer under the old prohibition, and even though she marries again, she is not an adulteress.

4 So yee, my brethren, are dead also to the Law by ye body of Christ, that ye should be vnto an other, euen vnto him that is raised vp from the dead, that we should bring foorth fruite vnto God.

So, my brethren, to you also the Law died through the incarnation of Christ, that you might be wedded to Another, namely to Him who rose from the dead in order that we might yield fruit to God.

5 For when we were in ye flesh, the affections of sinnes, which were by the Law, had force in our members, to bring foorth fruit vnto death.

For whilst we were under the thraldom of our earthly natures, sinful passions-- made sinful by the Law--were always being aroused to action in our bodily faculties that they might yield fruit to death.

6 But now we are deliuered from the Lawe, he being dead in whom we were holden, that we should serue in newnesse of Spirite, and not in the oldnesse of the letter.

But seeing that we have died to that which once held us in bondage, the Law has now no hold over us, so that we render a service which, instead of being old and formal, is new and spiritual.

7 What shall we say then? Is the Lawe sinne? God forbid. Nay, I knewe not sinne, but by the Lawe: for I had not knowen lust, except the Lawe had sayd, Thou shalt not lust.

What follows? Is the Law itself a sinful thing? No, indeed; on the contrary, unless I had been taught by the Law, I should have known nothing of sin as sin. For instance, I should not have known what covetousness is, if the Law had not repeatedly said, "Thou shalt not covet."

8 But sinne tooke an occasion by ye commandement, and wrought in me all maner of concupiscence: for without the Lawe sinne is dead.

Sin took advantage of this, and by means of the Commandment stirred up within me every kind of coveting; for apart from Law sin would be dead.

9 For I once was aliue, without the Law: but when the commandement came, sinne reuiued,

Once, apart from Law, I was alive, but when the Commandment came, sin sprang into life, and I died;

10 But I died: and the same commandement which was ordeined vnto life, was found to be vnto me vnto death.

and, as it turned out, the very Commandment which was to bring me life, brought me death.

11 For sinne tooke occasion by the commandement, and deceiued me, and thereby slewe me.

For sin seized the advantage, and by means of the Commandment it completely deceived me, and also put me to death.

12 Wherefore the Lawe is holy, and that commandement is holy, and iust, and good.

So that the Law itself is holy, and the Commandment is holy, just and good.

13 Was that then which is good, made death vnto me? God forbid: but sinne, that it might appeare sinne, wrought death in me by that which is good, that sinne might be out of measure sinfull by the commandement.

Did then a thing which is good become death to me? No, indeed, but sin did; so that through its bringing about death by means of what was good, it might be seen in its true light as sin, in order that by means of the Commandment the unspeakable sinfulness of sin might be plainly shown.

14 For we knowe that the Law is spirituall, but I am carnall, solde vnder sinne.

For we know that the Law is a spiritual thing; but I am unspiritual--the slave, bought and sold, of sin.

15 For I alow not that which I do: for what I would, that do I not: but what I hate, that do I.

For what I do, I do not recognize as my own action. What I desire to do is not what I do, but what I am averse to is what I do.

16 If I doe then that which I woulde not, I consent to the Lawe, that it is good.

But if I do that which I do not desire to do, I admit the excellence of the Law,

17 Nowe then, it is no more I, that doe it, but sinne that dwelleth in me.

and now it is no longer I that do these things, but the sin which has its home within me does them.

18 For I know, that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to wil is preset with me: but I find no meanes to perform that which is good.

For I know that in me, that is, in my lower self, nothing good has its home; for while the will to do right is present with me, the power to carry it out is not.

19 For I doe not the good thing, which I would, but the euil, which I would not, that do I.

For what I do is not the good thing that I desire to do; but the evil thing that I desire not to do, is what I constantly do.

20 Nowe if I do that I would not, it is no more I that doe it, but the sinne that dwelleth in me.

But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no longer be said that it is I who do it, but the sin which has its home within me does it.

21 I finde then that when I would doe good, I am thus yoked, that euill is present with me.

I find therefore the law of my nature to be that when I desire to do what is right, evil is lying in ambush for me.

22 For I delite in the Law of God, concerning the inner man:

For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with the Law of God;

23 But I see another Law in my members, rebelling against the Lawe of my minde, and leading me captiue vnto the lawe of sinne, which is in my members.

but I discover within me a different Law at war with the Law of my understanding, and leading me captive to the Law which is everywhere at work in my body--the Law of sin.

24 O wretched man that I am, who shall deliuer me from the body of this death!

(Unhappy man that I am! who will rescue me from this death-burdened body?

25 I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Then I my selfe in my minde serue the Lawe of God, but in my flesh the lawe of sinne.

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!) To sum up then, with my understanding, I--my true self--am in servitude to the Law of God, but with my lower nature I am in servitude to the Law of sin.